Vertical louvre wall box



VERTICAL LOUVRE WALL BOX Samuel W. Miller, Jr. and Robert Walter Greene, Philadelphia, Pa., assignors to John J. Nesbitt, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 1, 1955, Serial No. 498,524

2 Claims. (Cl. 183-111) This invention relates to a louvred arrangement for an air intake, particularly as to the air intake for an air conditioning arrangement wherein fresh air is drawn into a building or a room from the outside.

In connection with air conditioning arrangements, particularly those in which an air conditioning unit is placed directly in a room to be conditioned, means is provided for permitting fresh air to be drawn in through the unit to be supplied to the room in order to maintain the air in good condition and also to provide for a cooling effect on the room when necessary.

Air inlets of this nature are generally in the form of louvred boxes with the louvres being provided to prevent foreign material from passing through the opening and, more particularly, to extract free moisture from the air so that it does not reach the unit which would cause deterioration thereof and which might also cause free moisture to be expelled into the room.

An air intake arrangement of this nature must also permit the flow of air therethrough without any substantial pressure drop. However, definite space limitations are also imposed upon such an element and for this reason such intakes have heretofore been defective particularly with respect to extracting free moisture from the air.

The customary air inlet louvre box is provided with horizontal louvres, of either the inverted chevron or blade type and it has been necessary for them to be up to about six inches in thickness from front to back to eliminate the carry over of water droplets under heavy rain and wind conditions.

Louvre banks of this nature, in as much as the louvres are arranged horizontally, are characterized in that water deposited on the louvres will drop therefrom downwardly to the next stream. Under these conditions water droplets are many times carried a considerable distance inwardly from the inner side of the louvre and thus substantially all of these arrangements require bottom pans in order to catch these water droplets if such a box is to be made water-tight. Space limitations, however, generally prevent the use of a large enough pan to accomplish this.

A still further characteristic of air intake louvre boxes having horizontal louvres is that they are structurally weak against sustaining vertical loads and in many cases it is necessary to provide one or more supporting sills when louvre boxes of this type are to be employed.

Having the foregoing in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an air intake louvre box which eliminates the difliculties referred to above that have been encountered in connection with louvre boxes having horizontal blades.

A particular object of this invention is the provision of an air intake louvre box which will eliminate all of the free moisture in the air stream passing therethrough except such finely divided droplets as might be referred to as a fog.

Another object of the invention is the provision of 21 States Patent tight louvre box installation within the confines of theusual wall.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a louvre box which is extremely strong thereby eliminating the possibility of the louvre box collapsing or becoming deformed from bearing loads.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a louvre box substantially as inexpensive to manufacture as the conventional horizontal bladed louvre box but which is much more efiicient and effective in operation.

In general, the several objectives referred to above are attained by providing a louvre box having vertically disposed louvres which not only provides the louvre box with great bearing strength in the vertical direction but also provides that water droplets extracted from the air stream by the blades of the louvre box will flow down the blades to the bottom of the louvre box and thus are prevented from reentering the air stream whereby substantially all carry over of water droplets is eliminated.

The several objects and advantages referred to will become more apparent upon reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic view showing an air treating installation within a room and having a louvred air inlet box set in the wall which is constructed according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a somewhat enlarged vertical view showing the louvre box of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing a somewhat diiferent arrangement of the louvre box in the wall;

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view indicated by line 4-4 on Figure 2;

Figure 5 is an external elevational view showing the manner in which the louvre box is provided with a decorative and protective grill; a

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view showing the manner in which the louvre box operates; and

Figure 7 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view showing the operation of the louvre box.

Referring to the drawings somewhat more in detail, Figure 1 shows an air treating or air conditioning unit 10 located in a room against a masonry wall 12. Unit 10 is adapted for blowing air into the room by means of a fan 14, this air constituting recirculated air or fresh outside air or a mixture thereof. The fresh outside air is introduced into unit 10 via a fresh air inlet passage 16 which is provided with a louvre box 18 constructed according to the present invention.

Louvre box 18 is preferably constructed of a noncorrosive material such as aluminum and is characterized by the provision of vertically extending louvres 20 for the purpose of eliminating air borne water droplets while at the same time not offering any substantial resistance to air flow through the louvre box. The louvre box comprises an outer frame 22 in which the louvres are located and preferably has a covering grill 24 on the outside thereof.

As will be seen in Figure 4, each louvre is die-formed to the shape of a modified Z. These louvres are disposed between the protective outer grill 2 previously referred to and run to the back of the frame which may be provided with a fairly large mesh bird screen 26.

The vertical louvres, due to their Z shape in transverse section and since they extendfrom top to bottom of the carried thereby will be thrown against the vertical surfaces of the louvres and run downwardly therealong to the bottom of the louvre frame which forms a catch basin. As will be seen in Figure 7 water that is entrained in the air stream will tend to be thrown out against the louvre surfaces as indicated by the arrow 32. This water runs downwardly along the louvres as will be seen in Figure 6 to the bottom portion of the frame where it is retained in the catch basin portion 34 of the frame.

This water will drain out of the frame through the Openings 36 provided therealong, which are also indicated in Figure 5. Since the louvres run from top to bottom of the frame the lower ends of the louvres are preferably provided with the notches 38 which may be of any shape by means of which the spaces between adjacent louvres are all intercommunicated and whereby all of the water caught in catch basin 34 can be drained through a relatively few discharge apertures 36.

From the foregoing it will be perceived that in a louvre box according to the present invention the air stream must impinge against at least three louvre blade faces in passing through the louvre bank and is thus subject to three times the moisture elimination possible with a singleface louvre. All of the water eliminated in the louvre box according to this invention drains downwardly to the catch basin portion without re-entering the air stream.

Secondary bafiies and extra pans are eliminated and substantially complete weather tightness is accomplished in a louvre box of a relatively shallow depth.

At the same time, as brought out above, the installation of the louvre box according to this invention is quite simple and it can be employed Where conventional louvre boxes are impractical since the bearing strength of the louvre box permits the elimination of supporting lintels.

It will be understood that this invention is susceptible to modification in order to adapt it to different usages and conditions, and, accordingly, it is desired to comprehend such modifications within this invention as may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. In an outside air intake louvre box for eliminating droplets of water entrained within the entering air; a rectangular frame, the bottom member of the frame forming an upwardly opening channel, vertical louvre blades in said frame extending between and engaging said top and bottom members, each blade being a zig-zag shape in cross section and said blades being horizontally spaced so as to be partly nested together thereby to form a tortuous but low resistance flow path for air passing through the box whereby free moisture in the air will be trapped on the blades and flow downwardly therealong into said channel without re-entering the air stream, and means in said rectangular frame to drain said channel comprising aperture means along the bottom edge of said channel, and notches formed in the bottom edges of said blades interconnecting the spaces formed between the blades along the lower frame member to facilitate draining said spaces.

2. In an outside air intake louvre box for eliminating droplets of water entrained within the entering air, a rectangular frame having a top and bottom member with the bottom member of the frame forming an upwardly opening channel, vertical louvre blades in said frame extending from a load bearing engagement with the underside of the top member into load transmitting engagement with the bottom surface of the channel comprising said bottom member, each blade being a zig-zag shape in cross section and said blades being horizontally spaced so as to be partly nested together thereby to form a tortuous but low resistance flow path for air passing through the box whereby free moisture in the air will be trapped on the blades and flow downwardly therealong into said channel without re-entering the air stream, and means in said rectangular frame to drain said channel comprising aperture means along the bottom edge of said channel, and notches formed in the bottom edges of said blades interconnecting the spaces formed between the blades along the lower frame member to facilitate draining said spaces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 808,897 Carrier Jan. 2, 1906 1,336,870 Tracy Apr. 13, 1920 1,501,559 Kaup July 15, 1924 1,875,711 Dudley Sept. 6, 1932 1,899,028 Gagen Feb. 28, 1933 

